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Despite a rising stock market price, and improving industry evaluations, Apple is still perceived as the beleaguered company. Every new product that is intended to compete with an Apple offering is a “killer.” Just the other day, in fact, I read something claiming Samsung was going to release an “iPhone 6 killer” this fall.

Yet it’s also true that, on a single model basis, Apple continues to outsell Samsung by a decent margin. True Samsung sells more handsets overall, but with loads of models, most of which are cheap feature phones or basic smartphones sold at prices that pretty much preclude a decent profit or any profit. It’s a “volume is everything” approach that doesn’t really help a company’s bottom line, and it’s not Apple’s way.

Indeed, just about every “killer” has failed to slay the dragon. Each and every one gets some play in the tech media, or in some lame-brained financial analysis of Apple’s prospects. Apple will invariably be exhorted to wake up, smell the roses, and build cheaper gear or gear with more features to fight the coming competitive deluge.